LINCOLN, Neb. — All Jordan Westerkamp remembered was the ball floating in his hands and wondering if his feet were in the end zone.

His answer came when he looked at the sideline and saw a stampede of teammates rushing toward him.

Oh, yes, those feet were where they needed to be.

Westerkamp snagged Ron Kellogg III’s tipped desperation heave with no time left yesterday, giving the Cornhuskers a 27-24 victory over Northwestern in a Big Ten game.

“The tough part was the big dog pile,” Westerkamp said. “I couldn’t breathe for a while. Exciting. Just a good moment.”

A very good moment, indeed, for a Nebraska team that looked finished after Northwestern took a three-point lead with 1:20 left. The Huskers started their final drive at their 17-yard line with no timeouts and a quarterback who started the season No. 3 on the depth chart.

The Huskers wouldn’t have been in position to win without a fourth-and-15 conversion moments earlier. Ameer Abdullah caught a short pass and did some tough running before he stretched for the first-down marker.

After a couple of short passes and an incompletion, Kellogg dropped back for a final play with four seconds on the clock. The strong-armed Kellogg let fly a ball that was deflected into Westerkamp’s hands in the end zone. Westerkamp held on to the 49-yard Hail Mary for his first career touchdown.

“I didn’t even know I could throw it that far, to be honest with you,” Kellogg said.

Jeff Budzien had kicked a 21-yard, tie-breaking field goal with 1:20 left after defensive lineman Tyler Scott’s interception — Tommy Armstrong Jr.’s third of the game — set up Northwestern inside the Nebraska 10.

The Huskers (6-2, 3-1) control their own destiny in the Legends Division. The Wildcats (4-5, 0-5) lost their fifth straight.